With the weather turning cooler, I’m totally into comfort food. This is a simple, but very satisfying recipe. I love making ham because then I have a leftover ham bone which I either turn into beans or bean soup depending on how the stars are in alignment with each other. This is my favorite way to make beans, and, if you’re nice to me, I’ll tell you about my Italian bean soup next time I have a ham bone and the stars are aligned correctly.

Cover the ham bone with water and simmer for three or four hours

Let the bone cool, and cut the meat into pieces, save the broth..

Cook some small white beans according to the package, or, if you have a pressure cooker, cook them in that..it’s so fast and easy! Put the beans and the ham broth in a large casserole

then add the following in no particular order, you can vary the amounts. Typically for one bag of beans, I add about 1/2 cup of each, but if you like sweeter beans, add more sugar, mustardy beans, more mustard…

Ketchup..

Mustard:

Molasses:

Brown sugar:

one whole chopped onion and the chopped ham

Stick it in the oven for about two hours at 300 degrees. I like to serve it with crusty bread, pinot noir and potato pancakes with sour cream and homemade applesauce….